* Benj. Mako Hill (mako@debian.org) wrote: > IIRC, the point Susan brought up at Debconf2 after the numerous "so > easy your grandmother can use it" references was, "why always the > "grand*mother*?" Fact is, these little references paint the person as > stupid, or unskilled, or somehow "weaker" (pick the term that's right > if you don't like these but it's clearly not a good thing). In our > society, we tend to have an easier time making that kind of comparison > to women than men. Grandfathers are hardly more likely to be ubergeeks > but they're not the ones that end of as the poster child for > cluelessness. Then there's the possibility that, at least in the US from what I recall, you're more likely to have your grandmother still alive than your grandfather (women live longer on average and there are more male/female marriages where the male is older than where the female is older). As for age discrimination- there's been studies done which find that you learn faster/easier when you're younger and therefore if computers come along halfway through your life you're less likely to pick up on them quickly than children who live with them throughout their lives. Of course, there's exceptions all over the place to most everything. If you want to be PC (bleh) then you need to identify the crowd you're referring to specifically. Instead of "so easy your grandmother can use it" it'd be "so easy the technically illiterate can use it", or some such. That's not the best term either, but it's closer to what's meant. Stephen
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